Your step-by-step guide to explaining the marketing funnel:
The marketing funnel is a hypothetical funnel that describes the stages a customer goes through during their journey with your brand, product, or service until they trust you. Elmo Lewis is the first to suggest the marketing funnel, and he is the scientist who stated that customer interaction by marketers should be done through the AIDA model.
What is a marketing funnel?
The marketing funnel consists of five basic stages that act as stations at which the customer stands during his purchasing journey, which helps you determine the stage to be developed. Experts say that every marketing funnel has holes from which customers exit, and therefore the marketer must determine their locations, and in most cases, the percentage of transformation for the better from the marketing funnel is 1 or 2%.
Why is marketing funneling important?
The marketing funnel mainly helps in solving several problems facing the marketer, including:
- Understanding customer needs: Knowing your customers will help you improve your advertising campaign, develop your products and services, determine the demand rate for each product, and increase your customers’ loyalty.
- Choose a strategy: Choosing a strategy will make you able to track your steps towards achieving the goal more effectively, putting every effort in the right place and reflecting its impact.
- Increase your sales: Increasing your sales helps generate new leads, enhances your product image, allows for re-engagement with your existing audience, builds loyalty, increases company sales revenue, and contributes to raising awareness of your brand and making it known among people
- Forecasting future sales: Forecasting future sales is a process that affects the determination of the next steps that must be taken, such as the decision-making process, as estimating the volume of sales is the basic activity in the organization from which all activities at all levels branch.
- Customer retention: Customer retention is a critical step in turning a startup into a brand. A high retention rate will ensure that your customers are satisfied with your products and services. The first purchase will determine the customer’s path, whether they end the relationship or continue to buy from you.
What are the stages of a marketing funnel?
Just as each funnel consists of a beginning and an end, and in the middle, there are several stages, the marketing funnel also consists of a beginning, which is the stage of awareness, and an end, which is the stage of referral, and between them are three basic stages, and here we will elaborate on their explanation:
- Awareness stage (TOFU): It is the stage in which the marketer uses all possible means and methods to attract customers through social networks, paid ads, or the website, which helps the marketer obtain customer data and means of contacting them, such as name, phone number, etc.
- Consideration stage (MOFU): It is the second stage, which is no less important than the first stage. After obtaining customer data, the marketer will move with them to this stage, so he must consolidate the relationship with them by sharing introductory materials about his brand, product, or service, but it must be noted that the marketer should not mention his product or service directly.
- The transition stage (the bottom of the funnel): At this stage, the marketer has reached the stage of conviction and decision-making with his client, and here he can explicitly mention his product or service.
- Loyalty stage: After the customer obtains the product or service and is assured of its quality and importance to him and is fully convinced of your brand, the marketer moves with him to the fourth stage, which is the stage of loyalty, which gives the customer utmost importance. He must be dealt with with all professionalism and attention, such as by providing after-sales service and continuing to communicate with him, which puts you at his advantage.
- 1% die.
- 3% move to another place.
- 14% prefer competitors’ offers.
- 14% are not satisfied with the service.
- 68% are not interested in marketers.
Referral stage:
It is the last stage in the marketing funnel, in which the customer markets your brand, product, or service without any request from you, and here the percentage of his conviction in you and your brand is 100%.
Marketing funnel vs customer journey:
The customer journey is the complete journey from the customer’s point of view, in which the customer views your product or service as a solution to his problem. It begins with the customer knowing that he has a problem from the ground up, and then he begins to find solutions to it. It ends with knowing the appropriate solution to his problem and choosing the appropriate brand that provides this solution.
Marketing funnel example:
Amazon advertisement…
Awareness: All customers who saw the ad.
Consideration: All customers who clicked on the ad.
Convert: All customers who have added a product to the cart.
Loyalty: All customers who have made a purchase and rated.
Referral: recommending the product to other customers.
Conclusion:
In the end, we have learned that marketing suppression is the first auxiliary for the marketer to determine the reason for the failure or success of his advertising campaigns, which saves time and effort, achieves the organization’s goal without excessive costs, improves the sales process, and is the most powerful secret in the marketing process.
